After two stagehands were killed in a crane accident while setting up the stage for Madonna’s Marseille concert in France yesterday, the star tried to say a few words of tribute before singing “You Must Love Me†at her show in Udine, Italy, last night.
Madonna mentioned the men, both called Charlie, by their full names, and later said, “Let’s give it up for the two Charlies!†It was a heartfelt and completely appropriate gesture from Madonna, who one can only imagine feels really bad about what happened. But unfortunately, when you watch the video of her speech, it seems something was alarmingly lost in translation between the singer and her manic audience, who continued to clap wildly and scream “Madonna!†during her serious moment. Wince. Let’s just chalk it up to a bad audio system or something. The Marseille concert, planned for Sunday, has since been canceled.